Slaven Bilic has warned England that Croatia have improved since this summer’s European Championships – and being linked with West Ham will not distract him in Zagreb on Wednesday.

Bilic has been on the shortlist to take over from Alan Curbishley at Upton Park but insists he wants to stay coaching his country, with Fabio Capello their next opponents on the road to the 2010 World Cup.

“Since the Euros we are playing even better,” said Bilic, who masterminded wins over England in their last campaign. “It is great that I’m linked to the club from the best league in the world but it doesn’t make my work with the national team harder.”

After taking Croatia to within seconds of the Euro 2008 semi-finals, Bilic’s men have beaten Slovenia in a friendly and then got their qualifying campaign off to a winning start against Kazakhstan.

“There is no reason to suspect that we will now fall down. Our ball is rolling forward,” Bilic added.

“We expect a great game on Wednesday. Against Kazakhstan we played as we planned, the only question was if our supremacy on the field showed on the scoreline.”

Bilic has revealed that being a candidate for the West Ham job has led to his players poking fun during training.

“In training we always make jokes. Players tease me to take them to England as well. The interest of West Ham is proof that we are doing a great job with the national team.”

Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric believes England will want to settle old scores after getting beaten in their last two meetings against Croatia.

“We beat England twice in the last qualifying campaign, but this time it will be more difficult because they will want revenge,” Modric said.